The Cleveland Orchestra says it has formed a five-member committee of prominent Northeast Ohio business executives to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct against suspended concertmaster William Preucil.

Preucil was suspended on July 27 in the wake of a Washington Poststory from the previous day that detailed allegations made against him by violinist Zeneba Bowers. In that story, Bowers said Preucil assaulted her in his hotel room after a lesson when she was a fellow at the New World Symphony, the country's leading training orchestra for young professionals, in 1998.

In a statement emailed to the news media on Thursday, Aug. 16, the orchestra said its board of trustees appointed the following people to the special committee to conduct the investigation: David J. Hooker, former managing partner of Thompson Hine LLP, who is serving as chair; Alexander Cutler, former chair and CEO of Eaton Corp.; Stephen Hoffman, president of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland; Loretta J. Mester, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland; and Beth E. Mooney, chair and CEO of KeyCorp.

The orchestra said the committee members "have selected Helen V. Cantwell and Arian M. June from the (New York) law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP to investigate Mr. Preucil's tenure at The Cleveland Orchestra and any other matters that are raised in the course of Debevoise's work."

Upon the conclusion of the committee's review, the orchestra said, "we will share the key findings."

After the allegations were made in the Post story, André Gremillet, the orchestra's executive director, said in a statement, "The Cleveland Orchestra was not aware of the allegations reported by The Washington Post about William Preucil in their July 26, 2018 article. We take this matter very seriously and will promptly conduct an independent investigation. Mr. Preucil has been suspended until further notice."